If you are not entertained by “The Mystery of Irma Vep” – the latest production at Moline’s Black Box Theatre – you may not have a pulse.
The two actors T Green and Max Robnett, who play nine roles, are among the most passionate, committed and enthusiastic I have ever seen grace a stage, anywhere. Partly due to the play the pair inhabits, this parody of Gothic melodrama is so overwrought and over the top, you can’t even tell where the top was anymore.
Green and Robnett are theatrical sledgehammers, gleefully pummeling you into submission with their ridiculous histrionics. They’re clearly having fun, including embodying many female characters, and it’s fairly irresistible – this wild, rollercoaster ride of a play is an actor’s dream and an audience’s delight.
We marvel at the amazing speed of the many costume changes alone – some 35 costume changes take place in the course of the two-hour-plus show.
Green is co-founder and co-artistic director of the madcap Haus of Ruckus, a production team of queer writers who aim to uplift artists and audiences with avant-garde works. Robnett is a regular performer with them – and is a standout veteran of Music Guild’s “Spamalot” (2021) and Spotlight’s “The Producers” (2022), other unsubtle comic shows requiring hammy performances.
“The Mystery of Irma Vep” (overlong, to my mind, of the genre called “penny dreadful”) is set in the English country estate of Lord Edgar Hillcrest (Green). He’s a dour widower, having lost his beloved wife, Irma Vep, and recently remarried Lady Enid (Robnett), a very smiley actress not quite settled into her new role as Lady of the manor. Indeed, her domineering maid, Jane (Green) doesn’t think she’ll ever measure up to Lady Irma.
Meanwhile, Lord Edgar is disturbed by strange happenings out on the heath, including the monthly disappearance of his groundskeeper, Nicodemus (Robnett). In an effort to explain all of the strange happenings at the estate, Lord Edgar goes on an expedition to Egypt to discover the secrets of what truly lies behind the mystery of Irma Vep.
A penny dreadful is described as “a cheap paperback book, particularly those concerning lurid depictions of crime in the Victorian era,” and “The Mystery of Irma Vep” draws on everything from satire to films like “Wuthering Heights” and the Alfred Hitchcock film “Rebecca” (1940). The title refers to the name of a character in the 1915 French movie serial “Les Vampires” and is an anagram of the word “vampire.”
A rollicking satire of Gothic melodrama, “The Mystery of Irma Vep” is a quick-change marathon in which two actors play all the roles, including a sympathetic werewolf, a vampire, and an Egyptian princess brought to life when her tomb is opened.
It’s also super silly, with an over-dramatic soap-opera vibe, and a very intense climax (both serious and so not). I especially admired lighting designer Roger Pavey, Jr.’s feverish red lighting with blood-spatter effects.
There’s some breaking of the fourth wall, with the playful actors playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with audience members. (“Scissoring another man”?)
The shenanigans are lovingly directed by Max Moline (who also recently pulled out all the entertaining stops at Moline’s Spotlight by helming the glorious “All Shook Up” in February), and features characteristically spot-on, tasteful set and costume design by Lora Adams (Black Box co-founder and artistic director).
“The Mystery of Irma Vep” (by Charles Ludlam) was first produced by his aptly-named Ridiculous Theatrical Company, opening off-off-Broadway in New York City’s Greenwich Village in September 1984 and closing in April 1986. It starred Ludlam as Lady Enid, and a butler, and Everett Quinton (Ludlam’s lover) as Lord Edgar, and the housekeeper (among other characters).
It continues at the Black Box (1623 5th Ave., Moline) this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit the theater website HERE.
